By Jessica Micallef
A Sunbury man whose wife is a resident at Goonawarra Aged Care fears the growing number of COVID-19 cases within the home is “a potential diaster”.
As of Saturday, 72 confirmed cases had been linked to the home.
Of those, 43 are residents, 24 are staff and five are close contacts of staff, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Ian Sutherland’s wife Mary, 82, suffers from Alzhemiers and has been a resident at the home, managed by Japara Healthcare, for more than three years.
Mr Sutherland said the aged care centre had been COVID-19 free until the beginning of August.
But the number of cases had jumped within days.
“They first announced there were three residents and one staff member that had tested positive … [but] it was growing rapidly,” he said.
“It’s a potential disaster.”
In a letter sent to residents’ family members on August 5, Japara’s chief operations officer Lindon Le Griffon said 26 residents and nine staff members had tested positive to the virus at the time.
The letter stated residents and their families had been contacted and staff members and other identified close contact staff were in isloation.
“All residents in the home have been placed in isloation as a precautionary measure, with full personal protective equipment in use,” the letter stated.
“COVID-19 positive residents are transferred to hospital where deemed necessary [and] COVID-19 testing on residents and staff will be conducted regularly.”
Mr Sutherland said before the pandemic he would visit Mary every day for lunch but he hasn’t see her since February due to the home being in strict lockdown.
“It’s been a long time since I saw her,” he said.
“The blessing is Mary is in isolation and has tested negative.
“They [staff] were good enough to set up a video link every Thursday and I would … have a chat with Mary.”
He says the lockdown was a “very sensible” action to protect the residents and staff but he’s concerned the infections are getting out of control.
Japara Healthcare was contacted for comment.
